Bones & the Borgones
by Lumberjacksjill92
Summary: Plant looking creatures board the Enterprise and leave a gift...
1. Chapter 1

Crassula was a class M planet in the Tropeulary system. On approach of the planet, through the views screen the surface looked vaguely similar to earth, but there was about thirty percent less water, and the flora was much darker green. The planet was a rich source for medicinal plant life.

Their mission was to establish a trading contract between Crassula; with all of their useful plant life, and Star Fleet, who was always looking for new specimens and substances.

The landing party consisted of Kirk, Spock, Scotty and McCoy. The beamed down near the city capital Dahlia; in a meadow so lush with dark green plants and native wildflowers the landing party could hardly move without stepping on some intricate looking local flora. Where they were met by two city council head Borgones, Clant and Berk.

Delegations hardly ever went well for the crew of the enterprise. But, here on Crassula Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty had managed to charm the pants off of the inhabitants. The Borgones, a race whom were never too hard to deal with, known to be a kind species, were tall and green, looking like giant lengthy plants with very long bird like faces and dark eyes that looked like smooth river rocks. They were negotiating terms one local flora, which had great medicinal qualities. McCoy had heard from M'Benga that every doctor in the Federation wanted to get a hold of some of the plant life there on Crassula. Rumor was, there was even a plant there that could heal Rigelian fever and other diseases like it. McCoy and Scotty sat bored to tears during most of the discussion. But towards the end though the Borgones seemed to be so charmed that they practically jumped out their seats with joy when Kirk invited the Borgones for a tour of the Enterprise ending with a dinner in the captains quarters.

"Kirk to Transporter room"

"Riley here, Captain"

"6 to beam up"

A moment later the four along with the two Borgones materialized onto the beaming platform.

Stepping off first was the leader of the Borgones, Clant, who produced a large white decorative bottle with a thin brown leather strap of Crassulian ale from his long cloak. Berk just followed Clant, keeping its dark eyes trained on the colorfully clad first officers. McCoy and Scotty exchanged a smirk at each other while they followed the party around; Kirk explaining every function of the ship.

"You have a very impressive vessel, Captain. Perhaps we could toast to our newly agreed terms!" Clant exclaimed happily as it patted the bottle of ale

They came to a briefing room where Clant decided to pop open the ale, so Spock set out 6 glasses. But just as the last glass was clunked down on the table, the second in command Borgone got an urgent call beckoning them back down to the planets' surface.

"Anything we can assist with, your honor?" Kirk inquired

"Thank you but no, I'm afraid this is a matter we must see to ourselves" and with that they were escorted back to the transporter room by McCoy and Scotty, and were promptly beamed back down to their planets' surface.

McCoy and Scotty practically raced back to the briefing room. Scotty managed to shove his way past Spock and sneak an entire glass to himself, pouring it down his throat before Jim could even lift his to his mouth. Scotty let out a hiss of air and a whistle "Ey' laddie, that's some strong stuff!"

"Thirsty Mister Scott?" Jim quipped as the comm buzzed, putting his drink back down on the table, sloshing a bit out of the glass. What no one saw, was the odd, almost acid burn of the spill that the liquid left after about ten minutes.

"Uhura here Captian, you and Mister Spock's are needed on the bridge, all landing party back to their areas" while Jim and Spock were distracted, McCoy grunted and he too took a large sip before slamming the glass back down empty and huffily stamping back to sickbay.

Kirk also sighed as he and Spock turned to the nearest turbo lift "duty calls, huh Spock?"

"Indeed Capitan"

Kirk looked back mournfully at the unfinished bottle of ale before the doors shut to the turbolift. Sighing again as he stepped onto the bridge.

"Mister Chekhov, what's our status?" Spock asked as strode over to his post

"Ve are at Heading .34 'eadig towards Veta 4, vwarp 6 sir"

"Right on course Captain"

The bridge was running as smoothly as ever.

"We will be arriving at {Planet name?} to witness the solar flares in exactly three point seven hours captain" Spock announced

"Thank you, Mister Spock"

Kirk crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair, "Next time" Kirk said to himself thinking again of the brandy.


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile back in Engineering, Scotty had lodged himself deep within a Jeffrey's tube in the inner-belly of the ship fiddling with warp core settings.

He felt only a slight buzz from the Crassulian ale. He adjusted himself to get a better look at the circuits in front of him, turning onto his side, his black silky hair just nudging the walls of the ship. He loved being so close.

"Hendricks, get me a phaser torch, will ya lass?"

Holly Hendricks was an easily distracted new cadet straight out of Starfleet loved to follow Mister Scott around, throwing him tools and crawling around in the Jeffrey's tubes. She genuinely loved engineering. Scotty and her would sometimes just lean against a wall in the engine room, feeling the ship humming with power and talking about warp core engines for hours.

"Hendricks, that torch?"

She had gotten lost in her thoughts when she heard her boss shout at her.

"Hendricks!"

Scotty heard a muffed "Yes sir" from his assistant, the young females' hand stretched into view holding the phaser torch. "By your left leg, Mister Scott!" She wasn't sure if he could hear her or not, over the loud hum of the engines

"Aye, I got it" he took the torch and began his work. His fingers brushed against the panel he was about to open. That's when he felt an odd sensation creep over his entire body. It started in his fingertips, working its way up his arm and to his chest. "Hendricks? Gimme the diagnostics on these panels, I'm gettin a lot of static ele'ricity 'ere"

The blond female called out that everything seemed normal on the scanner for the tube that the chief engineer was in

Scotty dug his hand back out of the mess of wires, being careful not to disconnect any of them.

"Move outta the way lass I'm comin back out, getting a weird feelin' in there" Scotty clambered backwards out of the tube. Hendricks offered a hand to help him out of the last part of the tube, and he gratefully accepted it.

"Mister Scott!" She squeaked, pointing at his upper lip where blood had dripped down from his nose.

"Are you alright?" Hendricks was about to reach up and clean it away, when he wiped the blood on the sleeve of his red uniform before she could reach him. He was a bit startled at his bloody nose but thought nothing of it. Scotty knew that space could make the body do weird things.

That's when he noticed his stomach felt tingly "Feel like I've got fire ants crawlin' round' in me belly" he clasped a hand to his stomach "you sure the readins' showed no radiation leaks or ele'ricity arches?"

Hendricks shook her head "no sir," she hesitated "wouldn't the alarms have gone off if there was a radiation leak?" Fearing that she sounded like a 'know it all', she added, "you might want to go see Doctor McCoy, just to make sure you're okay" Feeling concern for her boss

"Aye lass, and make sure you have Jacobs check that tube! I want this ship hummin' peaceful by sundown!" and with a small cough, he patted the young Ensigns shoulder and headed off to sickbay.

Thinking the Chief Engineer was acting strange, she checked the readings on her PaDD again. Only to show again that there were no radiation leaks, no disconnected wires, no shortages, no nothing. She comm'ed Jacobs anyway, "better safe than sorry" she said to herself.

Scotty felt silly going to sickbay just for a few tingles. For god's sake, he'd been electrocuted by a damn Andorian eel once! That left him in Doctor McCoy's care for at least three days; Scotty shuddered at the memory. Although when he got there, just outside the doors, he stopped, leaning slightly on the wall, staying there for minute or so. He waved off a concerned ensign. "Must be gettin' old, girl" mostly speaking to the ship. Pushing off the wall, he clapped his hands together and entered sickbay


	3. Chapter 3

McCoy sat quietly in his office staring at his PaDD, filing patient reports and setting appointments when he heard the doors swish open.

"Mister Scott, what brings you to sickbay?" Nurse Chapel gave Scotty a warm smile, but it quickly faded into a look of concern as she observed he was holding his stomach with his arm. She immediately grabbed a tri-corder, it buzzed and whirred "why don't you sit down Scotty" her low smooth voice echoed around the walls of the room.

Scotty nodded and hoisted himself up on the edge of a biobed. "I was in one of the tubes you see, and all the sudden me whole chest and arm starts feelin' like crawlin skin!" Scotty gestured to his midsection. Chapel gingerly clasped his arm and moved it away, seeing if she gained anything from this. Scotty let out a small cough.

"Does this hurt?" Chapel pushes gently on Scotty's chest and stomach, noticing the semi-dried blood under his nose.

"No, like I said earlier, just ting..." He lets out another cough, and his nose begins to bleed again. Christine acts quickly, not wanting to make too much of a commotion or a mess for this matter. She hears Leonard shuffling around in his office.

Curious more than anything, McCoy got up from behind his desk and trots out in the middle of sickbay to see Scotty perched on the edge of a biobed with Chapel standing in front of him.

"Leonard, get me some gauze" she doesn't need to look up to see McCoy standing there. She can feel him hovering, intense blue eyes burning into the back of her skull. He turns around and grabs gauze from the drawer, sidestepping behind Chapel he gets right in front of Scotty, bouncing on his toes, "what did you do, smack your face on the dilithium?"McCoy grins, teasing Scotty as blood almost sprayed from Scottys nose when he laughed. The laugh turned into a violent coughing fit, he began gasping "Whoa! Scotty, breathe damn it" he started to fall off the edge of the bed. McCoy and Chapel caught him together, grabbing him by the shoulders and nudging him backwards on the biobed.

McCoy grasped Scotty's wrist, taking his pulse. It was off. "Lay down" Leonard said softly as he put a hand on the engineers' chest, nudging him back onto the bed. The move was almost an unconscious motion to him, because whenever Jim was in sickbay, the second he woke up, he was always trying to pop up off of the bed and run out of sickbay. He was able to get a close look at the engineer from this distance and that's when McCoy noticed that Scotty was slightly quivering.

McCoy placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. As he was close to the engineer, he could smell the light odor of the Crassulian ale on his breath, but he didn't say a word.

Scotty looked up at the doctor, holding the gauze to his nose. A look of worry pained across his face.

"Chris, can you make sure he's alright? I need to research something" He made an excuse; something was tugging at the back of his mind, and he needed to know what it was.

"Sure Len" She looked into those deep expressive blue eyes of his "you alright?"

"M'fine Chris, see that our Chief engineer makes it out of here alive" He made little attempt to curl his mouth into a smile at his own comment. Getting the PaDD off his desk in the office "I'm taking these to my quarters" He held it in the air, facing to walk towards the door, quickly leaving out of sickbay. Christine stood there watching him leave, utterly confused

McCoy stood at the door to his quarters, entering the code to get in. He quickly pulled his hand back when the door panel shocked him slightly. Cursing, he cleared his throat as the door swooshed open. His room was dark. "Computer, lights 30%" He walked to his desk, set down the PaDD, twirled around his office chair and sat heavily, slowly becoming aware of the smell of copper. He scrubbed a hand across his face. His hand feeling slightly wet and sticky "Lights 70%" He glanced down at his hand "...Shit."

He quickly got up from his desk, feeling light headed as he did and walked to the restroom, grabbing a hand towel from the rack and held it to his nose. " _What a mess_ " he thought. There was a good flow dripping from his nostrils and some of it dripped onto his regulation blues. "Awh hell," his accent flaring with his anger, Leonard threw the towel against the wall, savagely stripped his shirt off and got in the shower. He rested a hand on the warm tile, leaning heavily against the wall his whole body felt tired and numb, and yet his nose was still bleeding.

Giving up on the so called "relaxing shower," he stepped out of the tile stall and wrapped himself with the plush Starfleet issued towel. Taking another cloth and shoving it to his nose. He dried off and huffed his way out of the steamy room. Pulling on a fresh pair of pants and grabbing a new uniform top, pulling it over his head he walked from the bathroom in his quarters and passed by his own personal stock of bourbon, then it hit him.

" _I gotta go find Jim_ ," he thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

On the bridge, James Kirk sat calmly in his chair, staring out at space

"Captain, we have Crassulas's sun on view screen. One of the few stars to contain extremely high amounts of neon gas sixty-three point seven to be exact, which results in a wide range of color in the solar flares." Spock said as he stiffly held his hands behind his back as he stood beside his Captain.

Kirk nodded to his first officer "Thank you Mister Spock" he gestured to the bright star on the viewing screen. "Mister Sulu, Chekov, keep us at a safe viewing distance"

Watching a star with massive solar flares was always an enthralling experience. The bridge crew was positively beaming with curiosity.

Kirk excitedly punched the ship wide communications "Attention all passengers and crew, this is Captain Kirk. We are about to experience Crassulas' sun and its brilliantly colored solar flares; it's going to be a quite a lovely sight! For right now, I'm putting the in Yellow Alert for precautionary measures. Solar flares often cause turbulence, but we are keeping a safe distance. Kirk out"

"Have you got any interesting readings Mister Spock?" The captain inquired

"Scanning large bursts of radiation from the sun, the speed of the flares increasing by twenty-seven percent, Captain"

"Good Spock. Mister Chekov, keep our position maintained"

"Aye Keptin'!" the Russian exclaimed

The Captain hit the Comm button again "Kirk to engineering"

"Hendricks here sir" a female voice chirped

Somewhat taken aback, expecting Scotty, his Chief Engineer to answer "Uh, Hendricks? Where's Mister Scott? Just wanting to know how long we can hold this orbit Ensign"

"He's in sickbay sir. Captain, we should be able to hold this orbit for about two hours Sir."

"Right…" Kirk didn't like hearing that his chief engineer was in sickbay, but before he could ponder further, or comm sickbay; he heard the turbolift coming up the shaft.

*swoosh*

Kirk swiveled his chair around to see the doors of the turbolift open up to a worried looking physician. McCoy stepped out of the lift, his brown hair still slightly wet from his shower and his uniform looked like it had been put on in haste.

"Bones?"

Seeing that the good doctor had come up to the bridge, most of the bridge crew assumed he had either come to pester their captain or to get a better view of the supernova through the main view screen. Usually pestering Jim would be the case, but the doctors' disheveled appearance made some of the bridge crew stare. Since McCoy was known to be a true southern gentleman, always keeping himself looking presentable, a buzz of curiosity floated over the Captain and his bridge crew.

McCoy walked over to the Captain, leaning more than usual on the back of the Kirk's chair, pressing his hip against the metal.

"Doctor McCoy, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Kirk said dryly looking away from his friend at the solar flares, trying to act calm

"Jim" McCoy leaned in close to Kirk, "I need to talk to you," he quickly dabbed his nose with the cloth he had been hiding in his hand.

"Alright…" Kirk said, keeping his tone even, but his suspicion rising rather rapidly.

The Captain stood and walked with Bones over towards the ready room "Mister Spock you have the conn"

"Captain…" Spock's eyebrow shot up at the unusual encounter with the doctor, but made his way over to the command chair anyway.

Fear started to well in the pit of Kirks stomach as he caught a glance at McCoy's bloody rag.

"Bones" Jim said as his hazel eyes met slightly clouded blues

Jim gave him a 'what's this all about face,' and grabbed McCoy by the shoulder as they reached his ready room. Leonard let out a hardy cough, bracing himself on the back of a chair.

"Jim, did you have any of that ale that the Borgones brought?" he said all of the sudden, pinching the bridge of his nose, completely ignoring the captains' hands on his shoulders.

"No Bones, I got called to the bridge before I could even propose a toast." His head tilted in curiosity "But Scotty had a whole glass…"

"Yeah kid, I know" He flipped his hand over in the air, waving away the known fact "Did Spock 'ave any?" Leonards' southern accent was thick and slow

"No, same as me, called to the bridge…" now he was getting really worried. Leonard wobbled on his feet

"Bones, sit down"

A hand tried to guide McCoy into the chair beside him "What is going on McCoy?"

Leonard brushed the Captains hand away from him "Jim. Scotty and I… Well… I don't think we should've drunk that stuff" he shifted on his feet and glanced at the ceiling of the ship, avoiding Jims eye contact.

"What? Bones, I just didn't get a chance…" he took a minute to wrap his head around what his friend just said.

"Wait. Scotty? Is that why he's in sic…" He now became just as concerned for his Chief Engineer. "Why did you come all the way up here to the bridge just to tell me that?" Kirk asked, almost getting angry with his CMO for coming all the way up, in his condition

Bones began coughing again, this time more violent, his whole body shuddered. Sputtering, Bones leaned over the silvery grey table in front of him. It was quickly spattered with flecks of McCoys' blood.

"Bones!" Jim cried out as he wrapped an arm around his best friend, his hand reaching for the comm smashing down the button to call sickbay while gripping his arms tightly around Bones

"Kirk to sickbay!"

"Chapel here Sir"

"I need you to come to my ready room now, its Bones!" He took a sharp breath not being able to hide the panic in his voice

Meanwhile in sickbay, Scotty's vitals still looked awful, but at least M'Benga was there to see to his every whim and medical need

"M'Benga, you got a hold on everything?" Christine asked as she grabbed a tricorder and a full kit of hyposprays

"I've got this" Geoffrey replied quickly "go save that stubborn ass man!" watching Chapel practically bolt out the door

"Sickbay just wouldn't be the same without him" Geoff said to himself, laying a comforting hand on Scotty's arm as he took more readings.

Chapel ran down the hall to the turbolift, almost slamming into the back wall of the lift when she entered

The ride in the lift seemed like ages. She fidgeted with the kit of hypos the whole way up, thinking about what in the world she would do if she lost Leonard. She had grown quite fond of her boss. She shook her head at the thought.

When the door finally opened, Chapel sprinted to the ready room and ran through the door only to reveal a frozen Captain tightly holding onto a very marred looking CMO.

"Captain Kirk" She quickly ran over to him.

He had Bones in a very awkward position, half standing, and half bending over as if both were ready to collapse on the floor at any moment. Kirk was gripping him too tightly across the chest from the side. McCoy could barely breathe due to the pressure Jim was exerting on his ribcage and whatever was coursing through his system from that ale.

"Doctor McCoy" Chapel got his attention in between Leonard's coughing "Captain, let go. I've got him"

Kirk released Bones from his thunderous grip, and McCoy collapsed into Chapel's arms

"I'm… fine… Christine" Leonard choked out as he got his feet underneath him again. He slung his left arm around her back and began to straighten up. Taking a deep breath, he and Chapel began to try to walk back to sickbay before he keeled over completely. Jim got on his right side and put Bones' arm around his shoulder, and tightly held his clammy wrist.

The walk to sickbay was agonizing. Jim ended up just carrying Bones due to how many times McCoys' legs gave out underneath him. Jim and Nurse Chapel were practically dragging the CMO down the hall, the scene must have looked horrific, because upon passing several crewman, they just gazed, stupefied. Some even asked if they could be of assistance, Kirk just waved them off for Leonards' sake. He knew how embarrassing this must be, getting manhandled through the hall by your Captain and your head nurse. He would have laughed if it wasn't such a serious matter.

Leonard was grunting and cursing in protest when Jim gave Chapel a look. She tilted her head in acknowledgement; then curtly nodded. She was going to hear about this later. Sweeping his arm underneath Bones and scooping him up in his arms, Jim hauled his poor friend skyward.

"Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a child!" McCoy spat

Chapel reached into her satchel at her hip and pulled out a tricorder. Whirring to life she began to scan it over Leonards' chest. The readings did not look promising

By the time they were close to sickbay, Bones was wheezing and spitting up blood, spattering it on Kirks' shirt and some on the floor of the hallway.

"Let go of me!" Leonard shouted angrily as the doors of sickbay whooshed open. He was squirming in Jims grip wiping the blood from his nose and mouth that keep dribbling out, on his sleeve. Kirk was reluctant, but set his friend down. Kneeling a bit so that McCoys' feet touched the ground, he kept a steadying hand on his back, helping him to stand.

"Doctor you should really lie down" Christine's voice was dripping with concern as she kept a tricorder on him "Your stomach lining is beginning to disintegrate, your liver is starting to fail, you've got a collapsed lung, and your right is filling with blood" She finished with "Leonard, how are you even standing?" she grasped his arm as he white knuckled the edge of a biobed near Scotty.

"I'm determined damnit, that's how" he said through gritted blood stained teeth. "Give me that tricorder, and load a hypo of anesthetic" He barked while studying Scottys vitals.

Christine gave Leonard a look but she handed him his instruments anyway. He began scanning himself, coughing as he did so. He then emptied the entire contents of the hypospray into his own neck, pain and tension leaving his body with a satisfying hiss. He dropped the empty hypo on to Scotty's bed. His grip on the side of the rail loosened a fraction.

McCoy began pacing back and forth between Scottys bed and where Christine and Kirk were standing

"What is it Bones?" Kirk asked, as he outstretched his arm and grabbed his friend mid-pace.

McCoy steadied himself on the edge of the bed once again and studied the readings on the tricorder he just scanned himself with. "My god" he blurted out.

"Booonnes" Kirk whined

"Damnit Jim, give me a minute" The readings were almost exactly the same as the ones above Mister Scott.

He thought back to everything Scotty and he did that morning and afternoon. What had gone wrong? Was there anything out of the ordinary? It's not like when they beamed the aliens aboard they let loose some horrible space plague.

The ale. That's the one thing that Scotty and him had in common that afternoon. Placing a gentle hand on the Engineers chest he leaned close to him "we're in this together man" he whispered quietly to Scotty, who could hear him but not respond. Bones grabbed another hypo, shooting it into his neck again before Christine could jerk it out of his grip. "Leonard what are you doing? You're going to kill yourself!" She stood in shock of her boss's actions. He was on the verge of endangering his own life.

"Jim, come with me" he took off with a sideways jog back to the turbolift and headed back towards the ready room. Running past Christine and M'Benga both

"Bones tell me what is going on!" He dug his finger into his CMO's chest, once in the lift "Don't make me make that an order, Doctor" Kirk threatened in his captain voice.

"The Crassulian ale Jim it's affecting our systems!" He took a breath, leaning against the wall of the lift "Bridge" he barked at the machine "Jim, I think there was something wrong with that stuff, and I don't want anyone else having any of it. Something triggered some sort of reaction" sucking in another shaky breath, Bones stepped out of the turbolift and walked to the ready room.

The white gourd shaped bottle was sitting on the metal table ominously. The six glasses were still set out next to it.

"Jesus Jim, look at this" He spotted the acid like burn on the table, next to one of the glasses that looked like it had been used.

"Please tell me that's not what's happening to you on the inside" Kirk paused "Bones, you have to save Scotty and yourself. Is there anything I can do to help?" He pleaded

"I'm going to do everything I can Jim…" McCoy pressed a hand to his stomach at the thought of some sort of alien battery acid burning his insides. He was beginning to feel the effects of the hypo wearing off very quickly. Damned space, couldn't even have a nice drink without worrying about dying.

"…And yeah Jim, you can bring that damned bottle of… space poison down to sickbay."

Without warning, McCoy stumbled and collapsed unceremoniously. Kirk caught him around the waist before he could do any more damage to himself. "Bones this is the second time today!" Kirk sighed; he got a sickly groan in reply from his CMO


	5. Chapter 5

Practically dragging Bones under one arm and carefully holding the bottle of ale in the other, he quickly made his way back down to sickbay, wondering to himself what Chapel would say to him when he waltzes into sickbay. The CMO limply hanging from Jims' arms, his arms dangling out in front of him like a ragdoll

The things he does for his crewmates. It reminded him of a time at the academy where the roles were reversed. Jim had come back to the dorm drunk from some dumpy bar and he fell when he got in the doorway. He remembers only a few things from that night, the moment he started the mental the list of why Bones was his best friend; Leonard standing at the door, practically tapping his foot, waiting for Jim to get home like some worried mother hen. Jim will never forget the look on his face, his eyebrow cocked far into his hairline and a grumpy, annoyed frown adorning his face. Just before he passed out, Bones caught him and hauled his ass into bed. They always looked after one another.

"Hold on Bones, we're almost there." Kirks' forehead was covered in sheen of sweat, more so out of worry than physical exhaustion. His CMO was hard to carry, Leonard's stalky frame made it difficult to keep an even stride. Kirk almost dropped the bottle twice, so he took the brown leather strap and stuck it in-between his teeth. It tasted like dirt and flat beer. Spitting, he bit down hard, he let the bottle hang in front of him, bouncing off his gold cladded chest every time they took a step.

The two of them reached the hall in front of sickbay, Bones was at least still conscious and talking when they reached the doors. They slid open and Chapel and M'Benga stood at the ready. "Leonard!" Chapel lunged forward "He was running when he left here and now he can barely open his eyes, what happened Captain?!" Chapel practically scolded Kirk. She took her boss and led him over to a biobed. Where she proceeded to give him more hypo sprays and scan him with her tricorder.

Kirk removed the leather strap from his mouth and handed the bottle to M'Benga "Doctor McCoy believes this to be the cause of his troubles"

McCoy overheard him "Troubles!?" His eyebrow shot up and he frowned; "Jim, you fool" He coughed up a small amount of blood "Scotty and I will die if I don't fix this!" He propped himself up on his elbows barking at Jim. The monitors were blaring above him showing his blood pressure shooting through the roof.

"Leonard calm down, you're going to give yourself a heart attack!" Chapel shoved McCoy back down on the biobed, forcing him to relax. He let out a stream of hot air through his teeth

"Geoffrey, you need to run samples of that Crassulian ale" McCoy weakly said from the bed. M'Benga nodded to him. He uncorked the bottle and poured a very small amount into a small glass petrie dish and a larger amount into a beaker. Geoffrey swiftly took the samples into the lab for countless tests. It was a shame it was slowly killing his boss and the Chief Engineer because whatever the ale was made of had a sweet smell to it, he thought to himself in the lab.

"Bones, I'm going to get to the bottom of this" Kirk said to his friend as Chapel was inserting an IV into Leonard's arm. "You better, kid. I can't die from just one drink" McCoy said shortly "That'd be embarrassing" he mumbled under his breath. Kirk pressed the comm next to the door, hailing the bridge.

"Spock here, go ahead sickbay" the Vulcans voice was smooth and calm

"Spock it's me, I need you to send message to the Borgones that left a while ago" Kirk tried not to sound frantic. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall "tell them two of our officers have fallen ill after taking part in the ale they brought aboard"

"Affirmative Captain"

Kirk walked out of sickbay and made his way back up to the bridge. He figured he wasn't doing Bones or Scotty any good by just hovering around in the confined space of sickbay.

Back in sickbay, Scotty had to be sedated; his respiratory system had begun to shut down. He was entangled with a mess of tubes and wires that connected his body to multiple machines. But alive, and that's what mattered most right now.

McCoy was still awake. Against Christine Chapels orders. "Chris I'm half responsible for this goat screw" She stood next his bed and nodded "you have to let us help you Len." She sighed and ran her hand through his soft brown hair.

He was half sitting, propped up on the biobed, scanning himself constantly and comparing them to Scotty's vitals across the room. He was surprised at the head nurse when she didn't try and take the scanner away from him. Moaning as his stomach kept feeling like it was being ripped apart, he coughed into a cloth Chapel had given him and continued his work. Unknowingly to him, Christine was watching McCoy from afar

M'Benga came out of the lab. He had processed the results of the ale samples. "You're not going to like this Leonard, but I've got the results here" He stood in front of McCoy's bed and shook the PaDD in the air to make his point. He handed it to him. Leonard had to put down the tricorder he had in his left hand. Scrubbing his hand across his face, he squinted at the results on the screen, his eyebrow slowly began to rise when he got to the middle of the report "Geoff, you're telling me I've got mercury poisoning?"

"Sir, I wish it was that simple" M'Benga said sadly. "That's just one of the problems, I've never seen such an aggressive toxin, I'm not even sure it _is_ a toxin sir" He showed McCoy his hand; there was a small patch of what looked like a chemical burn. "I put an electrical node down into one of the samples and put a small current through it, the next thing I know it was sputtering like a grease fire"

McCoy sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed. M'Benga held out his arm in assistance, which he used quickly before Christine could see.

"So something in that ale is triggered by electricity and turns it into some sort of acid?" McCoy moaned as his body felt like it was disintegrating. He grabbed a hypo and walked over to Scottys bed and pressed it to the Engineers neck. Scotty's eyes began to flutter open. The pain levels on the monitor started to spike, along with his heart rate and respiration.

"What the devil?" Scotty said breathily. He brought a weak hand to his face, shielding his eyes against the harsh lights of sickbay

"Scotty, I need to you listen to me" McCoy steadied himself on the side of the bed

Scotty let out a pained wheeze but nodded his head at the doctor

"What were you doing when you first felt like something was wrong with you?" McCoy swayed. M'Benga grabbed his arm and chest.

Chapel came out from the lab; she had been double checking and running more tests on the ale.

"Leonard!" She ran over to him "Geoff, what do you think you're doing, letting him on his feet in his condition?!" She was positively fuming.

"Chris' please, this is important" Leonard gritted his teeth, his eyebrows in a tight line. Clearly desperate for answers and in pain

Scotty wanted to help, and more so he just wanted the burning to stop "I was…" he was trying to recall "the Jeffreys' tubes"

McCoys eyebrows shot up and he began to bounce on his toes. McCoy began connecting the dots and as he did so his grip became tighter on the bed. "Did you get sho-" He began to cough again, blood seeping out of his mouth again. Leonard tipped backward, falling into Geoffs' arms.

Christine lunged and caught the other half of him, bringing him back into a standing position, shooting another hypo into his neck.

"Chris that had better been an analgesic…" He spat, trying to recover what he was saying to Scotty

"Shocked… Did you get shocked" McCoy said as he stood back up with the help of his colleges.

"Aye Lad, Jeffreys tubes are huge boards of circuitry" he nodded as he lost his grip on awake and alertness. Christine had given him a strong muscle relaxer to make him sleep.

"That's it!" Leonard turned to his head nurse, smiling brightly at her. Just before all _his_ muscles relaxed and he gracefully fell into Christines arms

"Damnit Chris…" McCoy sleepily slurred into the cusp of her neck

"Anesthesia…" Christine winked at Geoff and motioned him to help her with lifting their boss up onto a biobed where he belonged.


	6. Chapter 6

~Meanwhile back on the bridge~

"Mister Spock have we been able to gain contact with those Borgones?" Kirk swiveled around in his chair with his chin propped on his fist.

"We will be in contact range within two point six minutes Captain"

"Uhura, establish a hail and have us ready to have them on screen, and send Nurse Chapel to the Bridge"

"Aye Captain, Comms are open"

~outside the ship~

The Borgones massive ship had dropped out of warp, hovering close to Enterprise at impulse. The Crassulains inside were buzzing with excitement and confusion, with making contact with the Star Fleet ship again.

"On Screen" Kirk flicked two fingers toward the view screen

The image of Clant flickered to life as the connection was established. Nurse Chapel walked onto the bridge holding a PaDD, looking up at the strange alien on the screen, she couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of anger; these creatures unknowingly hurt Leonard and the Chief Engineer, but she managed contain herself and came to stand right beside her Captain.

"Nurse Chapel, I'd like you to meet Clant, representative of the council of the Crassulians"

"My pleasure" Christine nodded her head deeply

"What can we do for you Captain Kirk, Nurse Chapel?" Clant said, its eyes glinting

"Nurse" Kirk got up from his chair and gestured her to stand in front of him

Christine pulled at the edge of her blue uniform dress before clearing her throat and speaking

"Hello, I'm Nurse Christine Chapel" her voice was low and smooth "your honor, it came to my attention that when you came aboard, you brought with you a celebratory drink from your home planet"

Clant tilted its head almost with a look of confusion and disappointment

"Did you not enjoy the beverage? It was told to me by my cultural advisors that Earth customs tell that when a task is completed or delegations settled, it is to be rewarded with thanks and food or beverage" Clant leaned forward towards the screen, almost pressing his face to the viewscreen, looking like a piece of algae stuck to the side of an aquarium.

Chapel tapped nervously at the edges of her padd

"It was enjoyed at first" Kirk interrupted

"I do not understand" Clant inquired

"We believe that something in your biological make-up as a species and in your ale…has…does not…um…"

She lost her train of thought. Leonard ran though her mind, laying there on the biobed, so helpless, his vitals all over the place. Those crystal blue eyes; and those silly eyebrows of his, she thought about when he fell into her arms, lips speckled with blood.

"Nurse?" Spocks' voice rang through her thoughts,

Bringing her back to the present, standing on the bridge making a fool of herself

"Oh yes, sorry" She paused remembering what she was saying "with all due respect Councilman, your ale has begun to threaten the lives of my Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy and the Chief Engineer Mister Montgomery Scott."

"Oh my dear Dahlias and Petunias!" Clant sucked in a respiratory sac of air, closing its eyes and wailing "how can we assist you!? I cannot live another photosynthesis cycle knowing that we have harmed another species!"

"I am not positive you _can_ help the CMO and the Chief Engineer" Spock clasped his hands behind his back as he stood stiffly behind Christine. Is this your first time contacting with humans?"

"We have heard of humans being this far out into the galaxy, but your ship is the first to actually make contact with our race"

Just then the Comm came to life. Kirk turned around and sat in his chair to answer it "this is Kirk, Go ahead"

"Sickbay here Sir" Christine couldn't help but tear her attention away from Clant and Spock

"How are they Geoff?" She asked nervously

"Mister Scott has begun to show signs of going critical and Leonards' strength is draining. It's not looking good Christine"

Christine was trying to hide her panic "Please excuse me, I'm needed in sickbay" she said aloud, mostly to the Captain and not to the alien on the screen.

"Mister Spock would you please accompany me," Christine headed towards the turbolift. The tall Vulcan nodded and was suddenly at her heels. The door slid shut and the lift whirred to life as it carried the First Officer and the Head Nurse to B Deck. Spock was her first choice in helping Leonard and Mister Scott. She knew that along with Geoff, and herself, that he would make a valuable resource in quickly finding a cure for the "ailment." It wasn't long before Spock spoke and was already coming up with possible scenarios and solutions

"You said that Doctor M'Benga concluded that McCoy and Mister Scott seemed to have mercury poisoning?"

"Yes but we are thinking that is not the initial problem. Due to the organic nature of the ale…"

They both stepped out of the lift, walking briskly to sickbay, where alarms were blaring and M'Benga was sprinting around the room back and forth between Scotty and McCoy. Leonard was restlessly moving on his biobed, grunting in pain under his sedation. While Scotty was covered in sweat, his heart pounding and his body in the process of shutting down.

Christine ran over to McCoy's bedside, putting a calming hand on his heaving chest. Checking his vitals, she leaned over him, and subtlety pressed a kiss to his forehead and a hypo to his neck

Spock briskly followed M'Benga around the room, questioning results and helping him administer more drugs to Scotty, trying to stabilize and save the poor mans' life. After Scotty had been hypoed to try to stop his failing kidneys and liver, Spock looked over the readouts of the lab tests of the ale and the effects it was having on the men.

"Doctor, Nurse Chapel said something earlier pertaining to the physiological makeup of the Borgones. The species is made up of mostly plant material and an electrical system, much like the nervous system that of humans"

"Yes, they showed many similarities to most plant life on earth in the 21st century" M'Benga replied

"Have you tried synthesizing a chemical combatant from that era to cease further damage?" Spock suggested as he walked over to the computer and began looking through the medical information banks. He was quickly reading through lists of different man made chemical combinations made in the 21st century

"Christine, I'm running Leonard and Scotty on a detox to get the residual mercury out of their system, but I can't seem to get the plant material out of their systems, it's like it's sticking to their digestive and nervous systems and trying to take over their bodies" Geoff placed a hand on Christine's shoulder "I did come across a chemical in the data banks, but…"

"Glyphosate" Spock interrupted. "It was the active ingredient in a substance to eradicate unwanted plant species on Earth. Unfortunately for the Doctor and our Engineer, the chemical was a carcinogenic to humans"

Christine sighed, leaning on McCoy's bed. Crossing her arms and glancing down at Leonard "Can we alter the chemical to kill the plant cells and not the healthy white blood cells?"

"I do not believe the same potency would be achieved" Spock stated "Small doses will have to be administered over a period of weeks. That should be the safest way. The Doctor and Mister Scott will have to be closely monitored during this process."

M'Benga nodded "I want to inform them first, this is still very risky" He said as he walked over to Scotty's bed and proceeded to wake him to let him know what was going on.

Christine followed Geoff's example, she grabbed a hypo and woke Leonard up from his sedation. "Len, we've figured out what's wrong with you" She placed her hand on top of his, gently interlocking their fingers.

Slowly waking, McCoy curled in on himself, barely hearing what Christine said to him, but he nodded his head in acknowledgement "solution?" He managed to slur out.

"Well, basically…" She fidgeted "Small doses of weed killer throughout the course of three weeks" she finished flatly

Leonard sucked in a shaky breath and coughed deeply "What? Are you _trying_ to kill me Chris?" His eyebrow subconsciously rose. She couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"This will work Len, we are going to monitor your vitals the whole way…"


	7. Chapter 7

~Meanwhile on the bridge~

The Borgones were still traveling alongside the Enterprise to express their apologies and sympathies towards the harm they had unknowingly caused to the Chief Officers.

Kirk had invited Clant onto the ship to dine with him once Chapel had given him the good news about finding a cure.

"I am very glad to see that your medical staff have found a cure, I cannot express to you how sorry we are for not doing more research on humans before we came aboard your ship"

Kirk waved a dismissing hand in the air "Just make sure the next race you encounter, that you do your homework" Clant nodded and held up its glass in agreement. "Do you know if they have started the treatments?" He asked. Kirk shook his head and pushed the comm button on the wall next to the table.

"Kirk to sickbay"

"Go ahead Captain" Chapel responded

"Have you started the treatments?"

"We administered the first dose about an hour ago. Both are responding well so far. You are welcome to come down and visit, sir"

Kirk began to smile brightly as he stood, slinging his napkin to the middle of the table. Bolting out of the swooshing doors, he practically ran down to sickbay, excited to see his friend; leaving Clant to quietly saunter slowly down after him. It stayed outside the doors of sickbay until it was called in to visit the two men.

~Two weeks later~

The Borgones had left some time ago and both Scotty and Doctor McCoy were back on their feet doing light duty, as cleared by Chapel and M'Benga. The treatments had gone very well and neither man was showing signs of regression.

Scotty was to be supervised by Holly Hendricks when he was working in engineering. His assistant and right hand man, Hendricks got this grand honor, but Holly did not mind this at all; she just found it as another excuse to follow Scotty around all day

McCoy was less happy with his light duty; he'd been confined mostly to his office, filing reports and sometimes being let out in sickbay to scan patients. It made him grumpier than usual, which led to Christine having to deal with his sass. She didn't mind too much, but she wasn't going to tell Leonard that. She decided to cheer him up by requesting that the captain come down and visit, since they were just traveling in between missions.

The Captain was more than happy to come see his CMO. Things were quiet on the bridge and he was just itching to get up and wander about.

"Bones!" Kirk outstretched his arms and had a smile on his face that was a mile wide. He made his way across sickbay and tried to wrap the CMO in a bear hug.

"Cut it out Jim" Bones replied with a slight smirk before Jim could catch him

"Glad to see you up and moving around Doctor" Kirk said in a more serious tone backing away from the physician. He didn't want to think about how scared he was, when he found out his two officers had fallen ill and had been very close to not coming back from it.

"You know Councilman Clant stayed around for several days to make sure you two made it?" Kirk said, changing the subject

"If I'd seen that moss headed idiot, I would've throttled it!" Bones spat

Kirk chuckled. He saw Chapel entering from the office carrying a hypospray

"Treatment time Leonard" She chimed

Bones just grumbled and sat down without too much protest and craned his neck sideways, making it easier for Christine to administer the chemical. The only side effect to the drug was the dizziness. If McCoy stood for too long after being injected, he would stumble around sickbay. And no one needed Scotty rambling around in engineering.

"Where's Scotty, he usually shows up for these parties" Bones said sassily, standing and walking back over to Jim

"I gave Hendricks the chemical to administer, so she could make sure Mister Scott sits down for at least an hour"

"I hope she knows which end to stick him with…" Leonard said under his breath

"Bones, quit being such a sourpuss. Nurse I'm taking him to the mess for a while"

"Alright Captain, just make sure he's back before his next injection at twenty-one hundred hours"

At that Kirk nodded and took Bones by the arm, walking him down the hall. The two of them walked in silence and just enjoyed each-others company. Nodding to crewmen as they passed, pursing their lips into smiles at the "sirs."

"Jim you just walked by the mess" Bones said, confused

"We're not eating Bones" Kirk said with a tone of glee as a smile played across his young face

They ended up in Kirks quarters sitting at his bar just having idle chit chat, when kirk got up and knelt behind the bar and rattled around bottles until he found just the perfect one. Bones raised an eyebrow at his friends' behavior

"I've been saving this one" Kirk held up a dusty bottle of bourbon

"That's the one I gave you at the academy when you passed the Kobayashi Maru! I didn't know you kept it this long" Bones face lit up as he grabbed the bottle, inspecting it. He got two glasses from the side of the bar and popped open the top. Kirk nodded and smiled, knowing Bones would appreciate it.

"At least I know where this one came from and that it won't kill me. Damned space…" He raised his glass and clinked it with Jims.

THE END


End file.
